Some 17,500 workers became jobless following the closure of 16 garment factories in Dhaka after the inspection by Accord, an association of European garment buyers.
Disclosing the figure, President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Atiqul Islam yesterday apprehended that the number of jobless garment workers would reach 100,000 in next three months and 500,000 in next 5 months if the inspection continued.
He made the observation at a discussion on national budget at Dhaka Chamber Auditorium in the city, seeking special support from the government to protect the country’s leading foreign exchange-earning industry.
Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) organised the seminar titled “Upcoming Budget: Promises and Challenges” with its President Sultan Mahmud Badal in the chair.
The BGMEA president said about 160 European brands had joined the Accord which was conducting inspections of the garment factories located in shared and multipurpose buildings.
He informed that the European team had been conducting visual inspections and declared some factory buildings abandoned, that resulted in making their workers jobless.
The BGMEA president also said they were not even getting time to relocate the factories. Even three BGMEA directors’ buildings were declared abandoned, and the organisation had nothing to do.
Atiqul Islam said the buyers would start detailed engineering assessment of the factory structures from July next and about 1.5 million labourers were at risk of losing their jobs.
He said Dhaka had 769 factories in shared buildings, while 1,434 factories are located in multipurpose buildings.
In such a situation, there were two alternatives – prefabrication of the buildings and relocation of the factories. But prefabrication was very expensive, while relocation was time-consuming, said the BGMEA leaders and urged the government to reduce the present 61% imposed on pre-fabrication materials to facilitate the abandoned garment factories.
He said many building owners would not agree to prefabrication unless the cost was lowered.
